rights (Hawkins v. Harris; Ptaszynski v. Ehiri Uwaneme; Hellams v. Essex County Welfare Board; Roy Victor v. NJ State Police). Hawkins was the founding President of the Garden State Bar Association, NJ's Minority Bar, a member of the Essex County Ethics Committee of the Supreme Court and the recipient of many awards including being the first recipient of Seton Hall Law School's Thurgood Marshall Award His son, Eldridge Hawkins, Jr., was elected as mayor of Orange, New Jersey in 2008. His daughter is actress/producer/writer Hillary Hawkins. Hawkins is married to Jet publicist and businesswoman Linda Cofer Hawkins a trail blazer for African American women in the Miss New Jersey/Miss America Pageant. (Publication: Asbury Park Press i Location: Asbury Park, New JerseyIssue Date: Sunday, May 2, 1971Page: Page 16 Asbury Park Press from Asbury Park, New Jersey on May 2, 1971 · Page 16) "Atlanticville" Oct.14 through Oct. 20,1993, page 26 "Linda Cofer Hawkins - Miss America Trailblazer" by Vivian Martin References 1940 births African-American state legislators in New Jersey Living people Democratic Party members of the New Jersey General Assembly New Jersey lawyers Politicians from East Orange, New Jersey 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American people